“Are you going to keep picking a fight with someone who’s struggling?”
“Judging by your fierce arguing, you seem to be overflowing with energy.”
Sigh, this is hard. Saving all living beings is difficult.
The high priest, who had been crouching, took a seat right next to Rukna Golden and plopped down on the floor.
Rukna irritably moved her buttocks to distance herself from the high priest and turned her head in the opposite direction.
Seeing that, the high priest also snorted.
And then silence ensued.
“Pfft.”
Rukna was the first to burst into laughter. The current situation was so ridiculous that she felt drained of energy.
It’s truly amazing. She had spewed out completely unrelated words, yet she felt a bit refreshed inside.
It was like the feeling of fatigue that had been buried in self-pity had burst open.
The high priest also chuckled, following Rukna’s lead.
“Is it still burdensome for you?”
“No. I feel a bit lighter now. What about you, Your Holiness?”
“I was fine from the beginning.”
“Haha.”
“Why are you laughing?”
“I feel like I understand Jerome’s feelings.”
Jerome, who had to deal with a difficult superior, suddenly seemed amazing to her.
The two continued to converse while still facing different directions. However, they had the same expression on their faces.
“There is no sea without waves. But that doesn’t mean the sea is engulfed by the waves. Storms and tidal waves, all of those are part of the sea.”
“Pardon?”
Rukna suddenly turned her head towards the high priest, asking what he meant. He slowly got up and responded to Rukna’s gaze with a benevolent smile.
“I hope that you will love your waves, even just a little. So that the total amount of happiness permeating your life increases.”
“Your Holiness…”
“And wipe your tears. It makes you look ugly.”
[This is the timeline separator]Before leaving the temple, Rukna went to see Matian Wiegratz one last time.
The Purification Room, located in the back of the temple, was like a glass greenhouse filled with flowers.
He was lying on a platform in the center of the Purification Room. The light pouring through the circular hole in the ceiling illuminated his body in a sacred manner.
‘I thought he was a sculpture.’
His body, lying perfectly straight, was so flawless that it matched well with the marble platform he was lying on.
Rukna sat on the edge of the platform and looked down at Matian, who was sleeping peacefully.
It felt like her heart had turned into a warm water bag.
Looking at him, her heart fluttered and warmth spread to her fingertips, but because of that, the reality that touched her skin felt even colder.
‘Should I kiss you to make it happen?’
They had only kissed once for the purpose of healing, yet her heart had slowly tilted towards him like a seesaw.
‘Maybe it was long before that.’
At first, she found him quite scary, but at some point, she had come to rely on him.
Rukna arranged the black strands of hair covering his forehead and moved her lips.
And she revealed the things she had been hiding one by one.
“Matian, I actually have a holy sword. I didn’t draw it from the plaza, someone left it in front of our house. You may not believe it.”
Naturally, there was no response.
“As you predicted, I’m not Rukna Golden, but Rukna Closet. It’s complicated, but that’s how it turned out. Also…”
Rukna pressed her lips tightly together and then parted them.
“Actually, I was a woman. I’m sorry for deceiving everyone.”
She never thought the day would come when she would say this. Rukna fidgeted with her toes on the dirt floor.
There was nothing left to say now.
Rukna stared beyond the greenhouse wall for a while and then lifted her buttocks with difficulty.
“Thank you for everything, Matian.”
[This is the timeline separator]Rukna quietly returned to the military academy.
There wasn’t much to pack. Just a small bundle on her back was all.
Rukna placed the pendant on the bed. Then, as she was about to call the holy sword out loud, she felt embarrassed and cleared her throat.
“Hi Bisbee. Can you hear my voice?”
It was awkward to face the holy sword, which wasn’t even a person.
Rukna placed her hand on her waist and fixed her gaze on the corner of the bed.
“It’s been a while since I’ve called you out loud like this. It’s awkward, isn’t it?”
Rukna lowered her head and cleared her throat once more.
“Will you return to being a sword now?”
[…]“Who was it that told you to turn into a holy sword so that the next owner would notice you when I die?”
As if examining a person’s complexion, Rukna glanced at the pendant.
She felt sorry for bidding farewell to the holy sword that had been with her for a long time. But this was the right thing to do.
Rukna repeated to herself that her choice was not wrong and conveyed her next words.
“Thank you for everything, Bisbee. It’s thanks to you that I’ve come this far. I think I held onto you for too long out of my own greed. I should have done this much earlier.”
[…]“You’re not going to let me hear your voice until the end? I wonder who you take after to be so stubborn.”
Rukna tapped the pendant. The holy sword vibrated with a buzzing sound, as if telling her not to touch it. Seeing that, a laugh escaped her.
“I have a request, Bisbee. I hope that when Matian comes, you’ll make him your owner.”
[…]“I really wanted to see Matian holding the holy sword. I feel like that picky guy will truly smile brightly at that moment.”
Imagining that scene made the sadness of parting with the holy sword diminish a little.
Rukna left a note she had prepared next to the holy sword.
〈Sorry for deceiving you all this time.〉
Leaving a short sentence, Rukna left the room.
As she stepped down the spiral staircase, Hans and Zvai made a fuss, asking if she had already returned.
“But where are you going? You’ve packed your bags?”
“Ah, there’s a place I need to go for a bit.”
“We will assist you!”
“No. I want to go alone because I have something to think about.”
As Rukna was about to step forward, she turned back again.
“Hey.”
At those words, Hans and Zvai responded with a firm “Yes!” filled with discipline.
“You guys have been behaving well for the past 2 years, so I didn’t say much. But the truth is, I was very distressed because you guys tormented me during that time.”
Rukna conveyed the unfinished words of her dead half-soul.
“We, we are sorry! Please kill us!”
“We acted without knowing our place back then.”
Hans and Zvai, who had turned pale, bowed their heads and apologized.
The person who should have received the apology was already dead.
“I’m telling you not to do that in the future. And if you’re truly sorry to me, I hope you’ll correct anyone who does such things.”
There was no hint of a smile on Rukna’s face as she spoke those words.
“We will keep that in mind!”
“Trust us, Lady Rukna!”
The two even saluted with their hands on the tips of their eyebrows, pledging their loyalty.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Rukna crossed the first-floor lobby, leaving the two behind. Then, a mural depicting a scene from the demon war caught her eye.
Saint Closet fighting against demons. Looking at the only figure without any facial features, Rukna thought.
It was her turn to be forgotten like this.
‘Rukna Golden,’ who was a student at the military academy, would now disappear from everyone’s sight. She would become a liar who had secretly hidden the holy sword.
But it didn’t matter.
If the uncontaminated holy sword could find a suitable owner and increase the probability of this world escaping destruction, if Matian could become a proper hero…
‘This is enough.’
She had excellently fulfilled and concluded her role as the adoptive daughter of the Golden family, ‘Rukna Golden.’
[This is the timeline separator]Matian was dreaming of his childhood.
It was the day he was summoned from the estate to the imperial palace by the emperor’s call.
As young Matian was sitting on a garden bench in boredom, a stone suddenly flew toward him.
〈Hey, you’re a demon, right?〉
And the sound of laughter followed.
Matian raised his head. He must have been about nine years old. Kids around his age were pointing at him, saying he looked pathetic and laughing.
‘Should I break all those fingers?’
At that time, Matian’s patience was as shallow as his young age.
His mother, who had been conversing in the distance, saw Matian like that and ran over in a hurry.
As if she had long abandoned the dignity of a grand duchess, she lifted her skirt without hesitation and ran quickly.
〈Children, are you hurt anywhere?〉
Today, too, his mother asked about the well-being of the kids who had started the trouble, not Matian, who was bleeding from his forehead.
Perhaps out of embarrassment, the kids left without any proper apology or response.
〈I didn’t do anything.〉
Matian spat out the sickening line he always did.
This was why he didn’t want to meet other brats. He couldn’t understand why he had to participate in such an annoying gathering.
〈I know, Mati.〉
His mother wiped the drops of blood on Matian’s forehead with a handkerchief.
〈You can frown if it hurts. Don’t hold it in.〉
〈Okay.〉
While other children would have cried and thrown tantrums, young Matian’s face was like an expressionless doll.
He had been like that since birth. He never laughed or cried. He just gazed at the world with boredom, like an old man tired of living.
〈Please, Mati. Show any emotion, even if it’s just one.〉
〈Why should I do that when I don’t feel any particular emotion except anger?〉
〈You are a descendant of heroes. A hero who will save this empire in the future…〉
At that moment, a small pebble flew once more near his mother. Someone hiding in the bushes had thrown it at Matian but it fell in the wrong place.
His mother stared intently at the pebble that had fallen behind her back, closed her eyes tightly, and continued speaking.
〈…If you’re different from others, it will be hard for you.〉
Matian gazed at the pebble without answering. If being different meant having to become a hero for humans who threw such pebbles.
Matian picked up the stone and glared in the direction it had come from.
His mother quickly snatched his hand.
〈Calm down, Matian. Those kids just don’t know any better yet.〉
〈Then I should teach them it’s wrong by throwing it back the same way, Mother.〉
〈If you get hit by the stones those kids throw, you’ll only get hurt, but if they get hit by the stone you throw, they’ll die, Mati.〉
〈Then let them die.〉
〈Oh, Mati.〉
The frail woman burst into tears upon hearing those words.
The reason his mother was crying was obvious.
She probably wanted to be a woman who gave birth to a hero, not a demon.
Didn’t his mother swallow strong alcohol while trembling with guilt for giving birth to a demon every time he had a fit due to the demon’s fragment?
Sob! His mother’s tears wouldn’t stop.
After hearing the news that the Closet family had been wiped out in a mysterious accident, his mother became even more sensitive.
‘I’m sick of this.’
Matian held his breath for a moment and changed his words to ‘I’ll become a hero.’
〈Really, Mati?〉
〈Yes.〉
〈Then smile at your mother just once.〉
Matian lifted the corners of his mouth as he had practiced in the mirror.
His mother, who was immersed in worry, seemed to find comfort in that expression and smiled back at him. Matian slowly looked around.
The adults who had been glancing at him from a distance and the cowardly ones who had been aiming at him from the bushes all seemed to be relieved as if they had let go of their worries.
At that moment, Matian felt suffocated and clutched his clothes.
A gloomy premonition crossed his mind that unless a real demon appeared in this world, he might have to constantly prove to those around him that he wasn’t a demon.
[This is the timeline separator]‘What an unpleasant dream.’
Matian thought that while lying on the platform.
It was better than the nightmare where the Black Sage appeared and asked him to take him out of the sealed demon’s egg, but it was still just as unsettling.
Matian lifted his heavy eyelids and put strength into his body. After much effort, he was able to wiggle one finger.
‘I need to move.’
Starting with his fingers, he was able to control his body, which had been stiff as if under a spell, according to his will.
It had only been about a day.
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
